Liquid-air container.



No. 651,223. Patented June 5,1900.

J. S. WRIGHTNOUR.

LIQUID AIR CONTAINER. (Application; filed-Aug. 4, 1899.) (No Model.)

m: News pzrsns cov PuoTmJmu, WASHINGTON 0.:1.

UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN SPRATT l/VRIGHTNOUR, OF OIL CITY, PENNSYLVANIA.

LIQUID-AIR CONTAINER.

.ePEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 651,223, dated June 5,1900.

Application filed August 4,1899. Serial No. 726,169. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN SPRATT WRIGHT- NOUR, of Oil City, in the countyof Venango and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and ImprovedLiquid-Air Container, of which the followingis a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention relates to a portable apparatus for containing liquid airin such a way that the air may be utilized in residences, hospitals, andlike places for purifying and refrigerating the apartments.

This specification is the disclosure of one form of my invention, whilethe claims define the actual scope thereof.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part ofthis specification, in which the figure represents .a vertical sectionof the invention.

The apparatus may be constructed in any desired cross-sectional form andhas a lower or base chamber Aand an upper chamber or reservoir B,divided by a horizontal partition C, which carries a cup D, the cupprojecting downward into the chamber A, but having no communicationtherewith, and the cup opening above the partition 0 into the chamber orreservoir B. The chamber A is constructed hermetically, and it isintended to produce therein a partial vacuum, thus preventing, in part,the transmission of heat to the cup D and avoiding too rapid evaporationof the liquid air which is contained therein, as will be fully explainedhereinafter.

For the introduction of the liquid air to the cup D, I provide a tube E,which extends diagonally through the wall of the reservoir B anddischarges into the cup, the tube E outside the reservoir having a cockF controlling the admission of the liquid air and a funnel G providedwith any suitable filtering apparatus to prevent frozen carbon dioxid,(commonly called carbonic-acid gas,) particles of ice, dust, 850., fromentering the reservoir B or the cup D. The liquid air being onceintroduced into the reservoir B and the cup D, evaporation will begin,although this evaporation will not be of the usual rapidity, owing tothe isolation of the cup within the partial vacuum of the chamber A. Thefirst product of this evaporation will be largely nitrogen, as is thecase with liquid air, which After the first evaporation has subsided andsome of the nitrogen has been thus removed fthe pure oxygenated air maybe taken from the reservoir B by means of apipe J, leading from the topthereof and commanded by a cock K. This pipe J may be arranged todischarge the pure air upward at any desired pointfor example, into thevery apartment inwhich the apparatus is then placed. WVhen the apparatushas become thoroughly cooled, the pipe H may be opened again, and theoxygenated air will also issue therefrom in another direction. This air,as will'be understood, is intensely cold, and thus serves to refrigerateand to purify the apartment. Further, the liquid air within thecontainer makes the whole apparatus intenselycold, and this furtherserves in the work of refrigeration.

For conveniently handling the apparatus handles L (made of materials notreadily conducting heat or cold, such as wood and felt) are provided inthe manner shown. The other materials of the apparatus are preferably tobe of metals like copper, lead, or aluminium, which are not made brittleunder the intense cold of liquid air, and which, like some of these,best serve to exclude heat from liquid air. They are to be protectedfrom oxidation through frost by paint,such as aluminium paint or othermeans. All outlets are to be large enough to prevent frost from cloggingthem.

The reservoir B should be many times larger than the cup D, because, asis Well known, the gases given off by liquid air are of much largervolume than the liquid itself, and to prevent explosion the reservoir Bshould be made'much larger, yet small enough to force out the expandinggases through the pipes J and H. The exact size will of course bedetermined by the attendant conditions known to persons skilled in theart. I prefer to construct the reservoir B in such proportion to the cupD that the reservoir will contain one-tenth of the volume of atmosphericairat any one time into which the contents of the cup D might expand. Ialso prefer to construct the lower part of the container immediatelysurrounding the ehamberAheavier than the upper part, so as to insure theproper stability of the container and to help to maintain the vacuum.

Liquid air thus treated may be safely and conveniently transported fromplace to place and employed for ordinary household or sanitary purposes.It is further obvious that the pipe J may be led to any desired part ofthe house or to any apparatus situated therein for the purpose ofpurifying and refrigerating the air thereof. 7

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. A liquid-air container, comprising two chambersdivided by a hermetic partition, a cup supported by the partition out ofcontact with the side walls of the container and the cup projecting intoone of the chambers and communicating with the other, the chamber inwhich the cup is projected being hermetically sealed to permit theformation of a partial vacuum therein, and pipes or tubes passingthrough the container for supplying the liquid air to the cup and forwithdrawing the same from the chamber with which the cup communicates.

2. A liquid-air container, having two chambers divided by a hermeticpartition, a cup supported by the partition, and projected into one ofthe chambers and being held out of contact with the walls thereof, thecup communicating with the other chamber and the chamber into which thecup is projected being hermetically sealed to permit the fol-ma tion ofa partialvacuum therein, and means for introducing the liquid air intothe cup and for carrying off the gases from the charm her with which thecup communicates.

3. Aliquid-air container, having two chambers divided by a hermeticpartition, a cup supported by the partition at the middle thereof andout of contact with the side walls of the container, the cup projectinginto one of the chambers and communicating with the other, the chamberinto which the cup projects being hermetically sealed to permit theformation of a partial vacuum therein, a pipe projected through the wallof the chamber with which the cup communicates and leading to the cup toconduct the liquid air thereto, and two outlet-pipes leading from thechamber with which the cup communicates, said outlet-pipes being atdifferent elevations, for the purpose specified.

A liquid-air container, having a partition formed therein producing twochambers, a cup carried by the partition and projected into one of thechambers, such chamber being sealed to isolate the cup and the cupcommunicating with the other chamber, and means for conducting theliquid air to the cup and for carrying off the gases from the chamherwith which the cup communicates.

' JOHN SPRATT VRIGIITNOUR.

Witnesses:

AUSTIN R. SEAGRAVE, Lucius S. Goss.

